Vietnam: New Assault on Rights in Central Highlands
Crackdown on Indigenous Montagnards Intensifies
(New York, January 21, 2003) The Vietnamese government has intensified its suppression of indigenous highlanders in the country's Central Highlands, targeting in particular evangelical Christians, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today.

(London, January 23, 2003) The Indian government is failing to protect the rights of hundreds of thousands of children who toil as virtual slaves in the country's silk industry, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

China has primary responsibility for the protection of North Korean migrants in China who qualify as refugees under international law. The Refugee Convention forbids states to push back migrants "to the frontiers of territories where [their] life or freedom would be threatened on account of...race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."60 This injunction, known as the norm against refoulement or return, has attained the status of customary international law, binding on all states whether or not they are party to these international treaties.

Human Rights Watch today condemned the Sunday arrest of more than 20 political activists for taking part in a meeting at a private house in Tehran. The arrests were ordered by the Tehran Revolutionary Court-Branch 26 and as of this time the charges against and the whereabouts of the detainees remain unknown.

Human Rights Watch today condemned the April 30 arrest of six prominent Iranian activists for participating in a conference on the future of Iran. The conference was held in Berlin on April, 7-8, 2000.